INNISFAIL – As summer draws closer and closer with more visitors coming through town there will be an increased presence of local law enforcement.
And Innisfail’s elected leaders had the chance to formally meet three of the four current community peace officer team during council’s regular meeting on May 12.
Gary Leith, the town’s director of protective services, introduced Zac Longstaff, Allison Koch and Brock Dzuba; all young community peace officers committed to keeping the community safe and orderly.
Innisfail senior peace officer Sgt. Derek Radatzke was on a court assignment and was unable to attend council.
Leith told council Longstaff has been in town since last October following council’s decision to fund a third peace officer.
His duties are now split between Innisfail and the Town of Penhold through a Joint Service Agreement that calls for him to patrol Penhold 20 hours a week.
Dzuba is the new addition to the team, a former SPCA officer and hired by the Town of Innisfail in March.
Leith said Dzuba, who is temporarily restricted to bylaw duties, is still waiting for provincial peace officer accreditation, which will take two to three months.
Koch, a Sylvan Lake resident, is the team’s respected summer student hire, and 2025 will be her third year in town.
“This was an opportunity to introduce Brock but we thought we’d introduce the rest of the team,” said Leith. “And certainly, Brock is a useful addition, and it shows consistency for the town and attractiveness of the organization as well the fact that Alison continues to come back year after year and is keen to continue to work with the Town of Innisfail.”
And with the arrival of warm weather with more visitors coming to the community, Leith’s peace officer team will have an important set of priorities.
Leith said monitoring traffic safety is high on the list, as the town typically experiences higher volumes of traffic heading through the community from Calgary and then heading west.
“Highway 54 becomes busier,” said Leith of traffic on the town’s west side. “Bella Vista has a new speed limit there of 70, and it's about education and enforcement of that speed that contributes to the safety coming into our community.
“We have noticed some excess of speed,” said Leith of the issue on Highway 54. “We have put some traffic monitoring out there. We have noticed that education is required.”
Leith said a big task for the team this summer, especially for Koch, is to continue with back alley reclamation with the town’s operations department.
“They pick a selected area and go in there to make sure trees, garbage, any debris, such as old fridges and stuff like that, are all removed from those back alleys,” said Leith, noting back alley reclamation in town has been going on for three years.
“Certainly, weeds and grass sometimes become a problem but now everything is greening up and starting to grow for the community to look good.”
